Babies..again....UGH.

A new baby was found this morning. While Shelly and Jolene moved all the momma's to the nursery in the barn this little guy got a few warm moments in the house.

We've got around 50 ewes expected to lamb sometime in the next 30 days. UGH! They typically lamb in the early mornings. I'm not a morning person. I am lazy and LOVE sleeping until 730. I love having the kid home on holiday break even more. Since Jolene usually gets up and lets out dogs I can stretch my lazy morning time and make it last until 8ish. Then the girls usually chore at Phoenix Ranch so I can mill about the house in my robe, have several cups of hot chocolate, chit chat with my goats, discuss the meaning of life with Pepsi Cat and get some important Facebook time in. Well, all this is not to be for now. Now I must walk down to the barn check for new lambs, dip umbilical cords, de-worm ewes, make sure teats are working correctly and eye woolly sheep ends for signs of impending babies. I'm not that excited about it.

The cats were overjoyed with the new lamb in the house. Ichabod Cat it seems had never seen anything like it before and spent several minutes smelling, licking and generally checking out the ovine. Pepsi Cat ignored it, only after it had made it's return to the barn did he take the opportunity to have a little roll in the "new lamb smell" left on the blanket. Peep Kitty followed Pepsi Cat's lead and rolled, rolled, spazzed out and dug under the blanket. After she was done she ran over and to me, peeped in my face as to say thanks! All it seems is back to normal in the house, the barn on the other hand will soon be a buzz. UGH!

Waterfalls

Generally when I milk the bovine I play music. I think both Jersey Cow and I like it. Jersey really seems to like the Meredith Brooks song, "B****". Maybe she relates. I forgot my music today. I spent most of the morning yelling at Taco Dog and Dillweed Hound to stay with the group. It's no mystery why I forget things. In the middle of squeezing my first set of teats I burst out in song. I started singing, "On Top of Old Smokey" (All Covered in Cheese...I lost my poor meatball when somebody sneezed...It rolled off the table and on to the floor...and then my poor meatball rolled on out the door...It rolled in the garden and under a bush...and then my poor meatball was nothing but mush.) My singing didn't send Jersey into a tizz but my crying and sobbing after I had finished my solo did. She pulled her head out of the catch and turned around and looked at me.
I was just hit by the overwhelming feeling of sadness. I miss my Pop! I don't think it's the holidays although after visiting with Aunt Shiela, Aunt Gayle and Uncle Darold this last Saturday, Jolene commented all the way through dinner and all the way home on how much she missed him too. Jolene still can't wrap her head around how large Pop's immediate family is. When we left Aunt Shiela's she asked how we were related to her. I said, "Aunt Shiela, Aunt Gayle and Uncle Darold are Poppy's sisters and brother. "Oh!" she said. She then asked how many turkeys my grandma had to make at Christmas time. And then.....I was asked, "How come Poppy's family didn't have one of those shows on TV like everyone else with a big family does?"

Whew...Too Pooped to Gobble.

We processed the Christmas turkeys yesterday. We only had 14 but it took us three hours! We had a bit of a Murphy's day. The weather started out cold but with no wind so Shelly convinced us to set up outside as it was actually colder in the barn than out. So we did. First the plucker wouldn't work, electrical problem! Then we put out the flame on the scalder and Shelly left the lighter in her friend's Jeep. Then the wind came up and it got colder...BRRR! We finally got the last one bagged and went to the house to make dinner which was anything but Turkey.

Here's to Organic, Homegrown, Turkey!

Finally!

This morning was very chilly, very frosty. We let animals out and let them back in. The Nigerian goats didn't even want to come out of the condo for food. Eventually most of the tribe came rambling down the ramp to a waiting pile of hay. Miss Jasmine, stood at the top of the ramp and looked wider than ever. She turned and went back inside and many of her tribe members went with her. As Shelly and I were standing, watching out the window a loud scream like bleat came over the baby monitor. I wagered with Shelly that she was in labor. Shelly looked out the window again and saw the other goats staring at the back of the condo. Another screaming bleat come over the monitor. Shelly headed out and soon whistled at me to hurry up as she saw feet. A couple of hours later we have two itty bitty bucklings. Momma and babies are doing well.

New Additions.

Jasmine has yet to bless us with bouncy babies. It's getting difficult but after much discussion with the little princess, it was decided that we human would just have to wait until she was ready. UGH...I hate waiting.

In an effort to distract myself from Jasmine's baby bump, I went to Divide and came home with a couple new Turkeys. I brought them home and tucked them in with the commercial whites (butcher turkeys) and watched them gobble around and establish their "pecking order." I've named them George and Hazel. George is a Bronze Breasted and Hazel a Blue Slate. They have grown up together and seem committed, as committed as a turkey can be, I suppose. My hopes are high that we will have little poults running amok this summer. If not there is always Hoover Hatchery's commercial whites.

New Developments

Shelly decided it was my turn to let dogs out this morning. Part of the job is tramping through the goat pen and opening the door of their condo. When the door comes open, they bound down the ramp in search of FOOD. Their whole life really is food. Each day, Aurora and Flower stop at the top of the ramp, give me kisses complain about the boys and then gallop down to the hay pile. This morning it was the same. As I was kissing Aurora I notice Jasmine's hind end.
There are some new developments in the udder area. I've been watching Cindy (Cinderella) for impending signs of babydom, I hadn't really been paying attention to anyone else. It is possible for several of the other girls to be pregnant.Prince Charming escaped his enclosure several times and each time he got right to business. He's so frustrated now. The girls are not in sight anymore, as he is living around the barn with Clyde. There are a few girls across the aisle but he can't see them and they among the taller variety. Everyone can smell him though.


I haven't bred many of the girls this year. I allowed Charming to date Wynonna a couple of times, in hopes of getting a mini-Nubian. Chloe and Bonnie (new Nubians) are most likely pregnant too. It's gonna be a light year for goats. That's okay, because it will not be a light year for lambs and my Jersey cows are pregnant too. I've only got so many heat lamps.

As I was giving some motherly advice to Jasmine, Fonzi came over to tell me how much he LOVES bananas and animal crackers and if possible when I went to town today could I get more of each. How can you refuse a face like that? Nothing bit off The Fonz's ears, he's inherited his Grandma Lido's auditory devices. She's a La Mancha. And then...Brother John walked by. Good thing he doesn't have an udder. He's just fat. Looks like he swallowed a basketball. He and the Fonz are good buddies until cookies or treats show up, then it's every wether for himself.
As I was leaving the goat yard, Big Dog Bertha stuck her nose over the fence and sweetly asked if she could play with JUST ONE GOAT.

Tanning a Hide. What was I thinking?

For several steers now, Shelly and I have chatted about keeping the hides and tanning them here at the ranch. After many late nights of internet surfing I decided that my brain was adequately prepared for the task. We started with a black hide from one of our butcher steers. The packing house placed salt on the green side after it was harvested from the carcass of the animal.



When I got it home I opened it up and laid it in the shower stall of the barn. It was sprinkled with more salt and left alone for two days. I nailed 4x4s in a square shape, this is used as a rack to stretch the hide. The salt was rinsed off and the hide placed in the middle of the rack. I made holes in the edge of the hide to string twine through. I should have used rope instead of twine. The twine held fine, but had I been using my gray matter I would have realized that something that was a bit stronger would have come in handy later when 'working' the hide. Instead I will have to take it off the rack to work it.

After stringing it on the rack, we placed it against the wall of the shower stall and began the tedious work of scraping off any left over membrane.


Jolene helped a lot in the scraping process. I would have never thought of spending my Friday afternoon scraping meat off of a hide when I was her age. I am thankful that she is eager to do so many things. I'm pretty sure that some of these 'homesteading' skills won't help in attracting a prom date. I don't worry too much anyway, she has the Aunts that will fill and help with that.


After the scraping process was completed we washed the hair side with good ole 'Mane and Tail' shampoo and left it over night.

We then worked a mixture of hot water and eggs into the hide. I thought about getting some pig brains to do a brain tan but Jolene crinkled her nose at me. We decided to use what we had on the ranch and the hens have been more than accommodating with the eggs lately. As soon as I'm done with milking today we will work in another dozen or so eggs.

So far it seems to be going well. We've a couple more steps to complete, which includes the time consuming and physical abilities of working the hide. Some of my friends have told me that I am nuts, of course I knew this already. If all goes well the next one will be a buffalo. Wish me luck!